Tux Racer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tux Racer |
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| Developer(s) | Sunspire Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Sunspire Studios |
| Director(s) | Jasmin Patry |
| Composer(s) | George Sanger Joseph Toscano |
| Platform(s) | Linux, Windows, Mac |
| Release date(s) | Linux:
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| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Tux Racer is a fun racing video game from 2000. It's an open-source game, which means its code is free for anyone to use and change. In the game, you play as Tux, the famous penguin mascot of Linux.
Your goal is to slide down snowy and icy mountains. You collect tasty herrings along the way! The game was first made by Jasmin Patry as a school project. Later, he and a team from Sunspire Studios made it even better.
Tux Racer became very popular. By 2001, it was downloaded over a million times! People loved its cool graphics, fast action, and how much fun it was to play again and again. It was a big hit with Linux users. Because it was so popular, a special version with better graphics and multiplayer options was made. It even became the first game with a GPL license to be turned into an arcade game!
Contents
How to Play Tux Racer: Gameplay Basics
Tux Racer is a racing game where you control Tux as he slides down a mountain. You can make Tux turn left or right, hit the brakes, jump, and even paddle or flap his wings!
- If you press the brakes and turn, Tux will make a super tight turn.
- Paddling on the ground helps Tux go faster for a short time. But if you paddle too much, he'll slow down!
- Tux can also launch into the air from slopes. While flying, he can flap his flippers to go farther or change direction.
- If Tux gets stuck, you can reset him to get back on track.
The courses have different types of ground. These affect how Tux moves:
- Ice: Makes Tux super fast but harder to control.
- Snow: Gives Tux more control for steering.
- Rocky patches: Slow Tux down.
- Trees: Crashing into trees will also slow him down.
You earn points by collecting herrings scattered around the course. The faster you finish, the more points you get!
Game Modes: Cups and Challenges
In Tux Racer, you can play in "cups." A cup is a series of courses you need to complete. To move on, you have to meet certain goals:
- Collect enough herrings.
- Finish the course before a certain time.
- Get a high enough score.
If you don't meet all the goals or quit a race, you lose a "life." You start with four lives. If you lose them all, you have to start the cup over!
Before you start a level, you can choose if it's daytime. You can also pick weather conditions like wind or fog, which change how the game plays.
Proprietary Version: New Features and Fun
The special version of Tux Racer added even more cool stuff!
- New Characters: Besides Tux, you can play as Samuel the seal, Boris the polar bear, or Neva the penguin.
- Power-ups: Some courses have jump pads and speed pads to give you a boost!
- Tricks: You can do tricks in the air to earn extra points.
- Game Events: You can play in "Solo Challenge" (the classic way) or "Race vs Opponents." In "Race vs Opponents," you race against a computer player and must beat them to move forward.
- Unlockable Courses: Finishing cups unlocks new courses for you to play.
- Two-Player Mode: You can race a friend in "Head to Head" mode! The screen splits so both players can see their own view.
Making Tux Racer: Development Story
Tux Racer was first made by Jasmin Patry. He was a student at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He wanted to work in video games, so he studied computer graphics.
He started making the game in August 1999 as a final project. He finished it in just three days, and his class loved it! He then made a website for the game. Someone suggested he share the game's code for free.
Jasmin thought this was a great idea because Tux is the mascot for Linux, which is open-source. He kept working on the game and released it for free on SourceForge for Linux on February 28, 2000. He hoped other people would help make it even better. This early version was simple: Tux slid down a hill with snow, ice, rocks, and trees to avoid. Jasmin used free textures (images) from websites instead of making everything from scratch.
In December 1999, Jasmin and some other students started a company called Sunspire Studios. They planned to make a huge online game. But that project was too big, so they decided to work on Tux Racer instead in August 2000.
They quickly added many new things to the free version, like herrings, jumping, and music. They also made the graphics look much better. It only took three weeks! It was easy to make the game work on Windows too, because it used tools like OpenGL that work on different computers. A big update, version 0.60, was released for free on October 2, 2000, for both Linux and Windows. A version for Macintosh computers came out on November 21, 2000.
Later Versions and Arcade Fun
On February 5, 2002, Sunspire Studios released a special, paid version of Tux Racer in stores. This version came on a CD that worked on both Linux and Windows. It had a much better game engine, improved graphics, the ability to do tricks, more characters, and competitive multiplayer. The free, open-source version of Tux Racer was still available to download online. Sunspire Studios closed down around the end of 2004.
Even after Sunspire Studios closed, fans kept updating Tux Racer unofficially. One popular example is Extreme Tux Racer. An arcade version of the game was also made by Roxor Games. This was a big deal because it was the first game with a GPL license to be made into an arcade machine!
See also
In Spanish: Tux Racer para niños
- SuperTuxKart, another fun racing video game with Tux and his friends!
